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A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair book cover
Reader guide
First-hand reader guide · Full read-through · Mood, heat & trope verified

A Touch of Darkness

by Scarlett St. Clair · Hades X Persephone #1 · 336 pages · Published August 2019
Spoiler-light guide Series order included Similar books included
3.73 / 5 across 175K ratings
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4/5)

A dark, steamy Adult romantasy built around enemies to lovers, hades and persephone, mythology retelling. 336 pages with moderate to high-heat romance and a satisfying conclusion.

Best for readers who want…

Dark. Steamy. Romantic.

Dark Steamy Romantic

Mood Match

Dark Steamy Romantic
Sort By Cravings match based on mood, pacing, romance weight, and trope density.

Skip this book if…

  • You prefer completely clean, fade-to-black romance
  • You want a light, comforting read
  • You prefer standalone novels with no series commitment

Content notes

Sexual Content Violence Death
Enemies to Lovers
Hades and Persephone
Mythology Retelling
Book profile

Mood, trope, and intensity breakdown

How this book actually feels — based on mood analysis, not publisher blurbs.

Mood profile
Romance
70%
Fantasy
0%
Pacing
3/5
Darkness
3/5
Spice
4/5
Core elements
Genre
Romantasy
Mythology
Dark Romance
Moods
Dark
Steamy
Romantic
Key Tropes
Enemies to Lovers
Hades and Persephone
Mythology Retelling
Ending
Satisfying
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FAQ

Quick answers readers search for

How spicy is A Touch of Darkness?

Spicy (4/5) — explicit content is a significant part of the story.

Do I need to read A Touch of Darkness in order?

A Touch of Darkness is book 1 in the Hades X Persephone series. Start here.

Who would enjoy A Touch of Darkness?

Readers who love dark and steamy stories with enemies to lovers and hades and persephone. Best suited for Adult readers and up.

What kind of read is A Touch of Darkness?

A dark, steamy Adult romantasy built around enemies to lovers, hades and persephone, mythology retelling. 336 pages with moderate to high-heat romance and a satisfying conclusion.

What are the content warnings for A Touch of Darkness?

Content notes include: sexual content, violence, death. Sort By Cravings always flags these so you can make informed choices.

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How this guide was built

Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.

📚 Last reviewed: March 2026 Guide verified against current edition
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